Two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza on Sunday and Israel conducted strikes against targets inside the territory in the biggest threats yet to the week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The soldiers were not killed by Hamas, the group and Israel both said. The deaths come as Hamas is continuing to locate and release the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, as required by the terms of the ceasefire deal, and as U.S. officials head to the region in an attempt to preserve the deal brokered by President Donald Trump.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who closed the deal, arrived on Monday and Vice President J.D. Vance is set to land on Tuesday. Witkoff and Kushner arrived after offering details about how the deal came to pass during an appearance on “60 Minutes” that was reportedly brokered in part by Bari Weiss, the Jewish journalist who now helms CBS News.
Witkoff described how Israel’s Sept. 9 strike on Hamas targets in Qatar, which was unsuccessful, came to represent a turning point in U.S.-led efforts to end the war.
“I think both Jared and I felt — I just feel we felt a little bit betrayed,” Witkoff said. About Trump’s reaction to the strike, he said, “I think he felt like the Israelis were getting a little bit out of control in what they were doing, and that it was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long-term interests.”
Kushner, who also proposed an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan during Trump’s first term, described his reaction to viewing the devastation in Gaza, where he visited after the ceasefire took effect and saw Palestinians returning to their destroyed homes. “It’s very sad, because you think to yourself, they really have nowhere else to go,” he said.
Kushner rebuffed a question about whether his business interests in the region interfered with his role in peace talks. And both he and Witkoff rejected the idea that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, from which Hamas launched the two-year war with a brutal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Kushner and Witkoff drew cheers last week in Hostage Square where they addressed crowds following the release of the final 20 living hostages from Gaza.
Three deceased hostages were released over the weekend, and the remains of another hostage is expected to be transferred to Israel on Monday night.
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